Glastonbury to screen pro-Corbyn film that blames communal groups for his downfall
Oh Jeremy Corbyn: The Big Lie features interview with notorious conspiracists - including disgraced ex-MP Chris Williamson, Jackie Walker, and sacked professor David Miller - suggesting Corbyn was victim of 'establishment' coup
Lee Harpin is the Jewish News's political editor
A controversial film which suggests Jeremy Corbyn was the victim of an “injustice and the destruction of democracy” at the hands of a “conspiracy of forces” – including the Board of Deputies, the Jewish Labour Movement and the state of Israel – is to be screened at the Glastonbury Festival.
The 80 minute long documentary Oh Jeremy Corbyn: The Big Lie – which also suggests Keir Starmer is an “establishment spy cop” features a succession of interviews with some of the most notorious figures in the Labour antisemitism crisis, including the disgraced ex-MP Chris Williams, sacked Bristol University sociology professor David Miller and Ken Loach, the film maker expelled by Labour over his membership of a banned group.
It aims to build on the often repeated claims made Corbyn’s backers that after the 2017 general election, in which he failed to defeat Theresa May, the former leader was eventually ousted by an establishment backed coup including those within the Jewish community who raised concerns about his failure to stem antisemitism claims in the party.
At the heart of the films narrative is the claim that antisemitism was a “smear” used to bring down Corbyn.
The political commentator and left-wing Labour activist Paul Mason is among those now raising concerns about the screening of the film on the Sunday of the Glastonbury festival in a pop-up cinema at the event.
Mason wrote a review of the film on the Labour List website. :”You could easily come away from a screening believing that all that stood between Labour and electoral victory were the PLP,(parliamentary Labour Party) the British state, Israel, Jewish community organisations and the ‘spycop’ Keir Starmer.”
The Campaign Against Antisemitism has written to Vodafone, who have begun a muti-million pound sponsorship deal with Glastonbury raising concerns about the screening of the film.
A CAA spokesperson said: “Festival-goers should be allowed to enjoy the live performances without fear of indoctrination from antisemitism-deniers. ”
Amongst the organisations to have refused to screen the film, premiered earlier this year in Berlin, are the Trade Union Congress (TUC), and the Labour Party, who have warned local CLPs not to screen it.
An advert in the official Glastonbury programme confirms the screening of the film on June 25th, stating: “Love Corbyn or hate him, it is probably a film worth spending 80 minutes watching on a Sunday afternoon at Glastonbury.
“It might even be a rare opportunity to watch it, as it has already been popularly branded as ‘the banned Corbyn documentary’, but then again, according to French-Romanian philosopher Emile M Cioran, ‘we feel safer with a madman who talks than with one who cannot open his mouth’.”
Pilton Palais, the Glastonbury Festival’s cinema, tweeted about the forthcoming screening on June 14th.
Here’s Alexei Sayle talking about the Oh Jeremy Corbyn! The Big Lie screening at Pilton Palais this @glastonbury
Ken Loach and director Chris Reeves will also be making guest appearances at the screening ✨#Glastonbury2023 #PiltonPalais pic.twitter.com/UpVwLEJ4nV
— Pilton Palais (@PiltonPalais) June 14, 2023
Pre-released extracts of the film, which is narrated by the comic Alexei Sayle, showed former MP Williamson defending comments made by ex Labour mayor Ken Livingstone about Zionist links to the German Nazis as “a matter of fact” .
Graham Bash, expelled from Labour along with his partner Jackie Walker, adds:”When I saw what was said against Ken it made me almost physically sick.”
Bash adds Livingstone was the “best anti-racist” Labour had “in my life time.
“At one point in the completed edit of the film, following claims there was an “orchestrated campaign” mounted against Corbyn, narrator Sayle, who has a history of denying antisemitism claims while stressing his own Jewish background asks:”If it was an an orchestrated campaign, who was in the orchestra?”
Film producer Norman Thomas then uses a montage of clips that reference the Board, JLM and the Labour Friends of Israel groups amongst others as an apparent answer to Sayle’s question.
A further section of the film, made by Platform Flims, attempts to substantiate conspiracy theory claims now circulating on the far-left that Labour leader Starmer is a state agent planted either by the CIA or the British security service.
Under the headline ‘Starmer – Establishment Spycop?’, another activist expelled by Labour Rebecca Massey suggests of the current Labour leader “He’d worked quite closely with the CIA, hadn’t he?”
Corbyn’s former chief of staff Andrew Murray claims Starmer will be known as someone “who did the establishment’s bidding.”
In his own review of the film, Labour supporting commentator Mason, who once backed the Corbyn project, but has come to be one its strongest critics, writing for the Labour List website said:”The film presents a full-blown conspiracy theory about Corbyn’s opponents, conflating Zionists, Jews and Israel as part of a force that “orchestrated” his overthrow.
“That, to me, appears to match at least two examples of antisemitism in the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition, and should raise legal and ethical questions for any venue considering screening it.”
Mason also warns that by screening it at Glastonbury “many people newly engaged with politics have no personal experience of the events described in this film.
“The teenagers leaving school this summer were just ten years old when Jeremy first won the leadership.”
Walker told Jewish News they were many other screenings of the film planned, as well as that at Glastonbury.
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
